effort

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The physical or mental energy used to do something.

   It took a lot of effort to finish the project on time.

2. 2
   noun

   An attempt to do something difficult.

   She made an effort to cover all the reading material.

3. 3
   noun

   An organized activity aimed at achieving a goal.

   The whole town joined the effort to clean up the river.

From Middle French effort, from Old French esfort, deverbal of esforcier (“to force, exert”), from Vulgar Latin *exfortiō, from Latin ex + fortis (“strong”). Compare typologically Bulgarian усилие (usilie), Czech úsilí, Polish wysiłek, Russian уси́лие (usílije) (< Proto-Slavic *sila).

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